Is Keystone really that bad or are there just more of them out there

[Boisedad]

About to purchase a Keystone Avalanche 360 but thought I would check out reviews on the manufacturer and now I'm worried. Had a hard time finding anything positive anywhere online about Keystone. I realize that for the most part it's those that are upset that are most vocal and that Keystone moves a lot of product so statistically they will have more issues even if they have the same percentage of issues. However, like I said, I really had a hard time finding anyone who had positive things to say about them. So, I thought I'd go to the best source, those who own them. What's the consensus, 1. Run away as fast as you can. 2. No better no worse than any others. 3. Better than average. Or 4. Best choice you could ever make.

Details would be much appreciated. And, as a side note, I am also considering the Open Range 427BHS.

[Dhuhn]

Keystone make a good product. If you look at all the manufactures you will get good and bad reviews from them all. I am very happy with my Montana and would buy another one. Do your research keystone has different models some are cheaper then others. For the money keystone is a good value.

[wahoonc]

I would go with number 2...

Keystone makes RV's they are owned by Thor, which owns a bunch of other companies too. They have to answer to the bean counters/shareholders. Decent QC is lacking in much of the RV industry as a whole. The best bet is to pick the floor plan you prefer with the options you want, find a dealer you like, then look at the brand.

A have to do, is a thorough PDI and insist that everything is fixed to your satisfaction BEFORE you sign on the dotted line and turn the money over.

I did a walk through on several trailers that we were interested in, two were off the list very quickly do to the quality of assembly. We chose between two units and I think we got the better one. So far only two issues, one they fixed the other one I did. The more complicated the unit the more chance for issues. Also when they roll out a new model with lots of stuff I believe the chance for issues goes up.

Caveat Emptor!

Aaron

[frankenstang]

I couldn't find any bad news about our Outback 312bh. We searched for 2 months and looked at 20 different models of the same floor plan and ended up getting a 1.5 yr old used one that was near new. Just got done packing all of our stuff from the previous camper in it yesterday. Seems like a great camper so far. Since it was used, we got the opportunity to see what issues could have popped up in the year it got used. Couple of drawer slides were bad and the sliding pocket door hardware was broken. That I blame on them using plastic mounting brackets. There is one metal one that held up fine, gonna replace those myself.

I'd have no issues buying another one. In fact, we fell in love with an Alpine 5er a few years ago and may end up getting one next time.

[raineman]

Always remember when reading reviews that most people writing them only do so when something goes bad. Not too many people sit down to write how good things are.

I have had my Raptor for a just under 2 months. Yes there were some issues that I worked through with the dealer but nothing that would make me say Keystone makes a bad product. In fact we love our trailer. Give me the name of any RV and I can find a slew of bad reviews on them

As previously mentioned, do a solid walk through and don't take it off the lot until all is up to your satisfaction. No exceptions. Also be willing to walk away if the dealer shows any sign of hesitation in correcting any issues before delivery. The only way to get a solid RV from any manufacturer is to have a good dealer that represents them. Good luck with whatever you buy

[JRTJH]

A Customer Satisfaction Poll that was conducted on this forum a few years back. It started in June 2011 and the last entry was in November, 2012. Data from that poll indicated of the 342 members who responded, 309 indicated they would buy another Keystone RV while 33 indicated otherwise. You can find the poll and the comments located on the forum at this link: http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/sho...other+Keystone

[Rex1vt]

[QUOTE=Boisedad;165880]About to purchase a Keystone Avalanche 360 consensus, . 2. No better no worse than any others.

The truth is probably in this range,depending on the luck of the draw.Most issues which may or may not come up come with use,however, the tires are in your face and can be researched up front.

[BigBlue]

We are very happy with our Springdale. Before buying a Keystone, we had a Forest River. After one year we traded it in because there were so many problems with it. I believe the Spingdale is considered and entry level, but it has some great features and we are much more comfortable with it than our Forest River.

[racin500]

We bought or first Keystone last year. My sister and husband are on their 3rd Montana. We went from tents and boy scouts to a 5th wheel. We almost started to believe all the bad PR and were getting cold feet so we called my sister.

They had a few problems but never any big issues. They have been trailer/RV camping for 30 years. They always bought new units. Talking with others in the parks, most people don't have anything real bad to say about most of the brand name RV's.

They told us, PDI is IMPORTANT. New or used. Take notes. Make them show you that everything works. Don't just take their word for it.

During the PDI, you need to operate everything, not the salesman.

Learn how to fix the little things yourself, or, find a neighbor who will help you.

It's not a car. They are not car dealerships. Don't compare service like a car.

A dealer (yours or any of them) can be a friend or YOU can make them your enemy.

Buy it, enjoy it, expect some bugs.

[chuckster57]

I work on many different brands. IMO Keystone does a much better job than most.

[raineman]

Originally Posted by racin500

A dealer (yours or any of them) can be a friend or YOU can make them your enemy.

Buy it, enjoy it, expect some bugs.

Hmm, I strongly disagree. Plenty dealers can be extremely difficult despite the consumer's attitude. To suggest that any bad experience with a dealer is the consumer's fault just isn't so. Any business that run's on that attitude, RV or otherwise, would fail quickly.

Maybe what they meant was that the attitude used by the consumer can affect the outcome when dealing with dealers. Just as anything else in life, if you go into something with the wrong attitude it may not turn out as desired.

[Harleyhop]

I say use your PDI to its fullest do not take the salesmans word that they will take care of it! I have owned a number of different RV's from various companies. I think our Alpine is built very well. Of it did have a few little problems that had to be taken care of but no big deal. I would recommend an Alpine to anyone that's in the market.

[Boisedad]

Well, honestly, these replys make me feel much better. Thank you for the advice of doing a thorough PDI. I'm going to block out several hours for this. If I do decide on the keystone you can bet I'll be on this forum quite often. Thank you all again for the great insight, advice and especially for taking the time to respond.

[chuckster57]

Even if you decide to buy a different brand, feel free to download and print the PDI checklist. It is applicable to any make and model:

http://keystonerv.org/forums/showthr...ight=checklist

[mamawildbear]

We've only had ours since November 1 and it was both our first travel trailer and our first keystone (our previous was a Coleman popup) so we're not yet that experienced. Did not know much about any of the brands but gave up on reading all the overall brand reviews for these very reasons. People are very vocal when they are displeased and you don't hear as much from the happy people. Plus something popular is going to get more complaints on the internet because there are just that many more people to have a variety of experiences.

Since buying, I've heard people talk about how cheap (quality) Springdales are and how they are entry level but I'm actually surprised and very pleased with ours. We had very specific wants when we started looking. We didn't want too long, were looking in the 25-26 foot range. We wanted a bunk house model with two double bunks, because we grow giant children. We wanted a separate bedroom for mom and dad. We didn't want a slide (well, not so much didn't want but didn't want to pay and afraid of leaks and failures of slides). We looked at a whole variety of units with matching models, Jayco, Avenger, and a bunch of others I can't even remember. EVERY SINGLE ONE, we thought, "Hmmmmm... it's OK, but it doesn't have xxx, like the Springdale." After comparing all those units and driving all over town, we thought that if we're going to compare everything to the Springdale and they are just going to come up short, why not get the Springdale. It was about $2-3000 more than those other units but we liked it so much more.

Since then, we've had nothing major go wrong. Except our stupid tank levels don't work and for what I read on this forum, we can give up on that. We have friends with a Rockwood and and another with Coleman and they've both been back in twice in the same period to have things fixed. Ours had some stupid wasted space I thought they should have been designed better but so far no major flaws and quality seems good to me. Maybe I'm just an entry level person and don't know the difference but both Keystone and Springdale seem good to me.

I also think it is very normal to have to be kind of a fix it yourself person when you have an RV. Most people I know are always having to tweak things, add mods, repair leaks, etc. It seems a normal part of RVing and to expect otherwise is to set your self up for disappointment.

[Wilkod]

I had to weigh in on this because we came from an open range 399bhs and traded for a 2013 Raptor 395lev. The dealer had to fix several items on the Raptor under warranty. Currently (after about 5000 miles) I am facing a leaky grey tank which was fixed once during warranty. I'm confident I'll fix that myself (due mostly to the help from this site). Overall though the raptor quality is much better than my experience with the open Range. Let's just say I became an expert at repairing cable slide outs !

[cb1000rider]

Originally Posted by Dhuhn

Keystone make a good product. If you look at all the manufactures you will get good and bad reviews from them all. I am very happy with my Montana and would buy another one. Do your research keystone has different models some are cheaper then others. For the money keystone is a good value.

The issue is that Keystone has a fairly well documented "poor" response to it's customers after the sale. IMHO, they appear to be in fairly unique standing in that respect. Other manufactures will deal directly with the consumer and work *much* harder to resolve issues.

A few stores that speak to me on the internet where keystone had a roof cut too short and the solution was to caulk/trim over it.. Obviously, they didn't want to eat the cost of that trailer. And similar issues with roof bubbles. Probably statistically rare..

Speaking from my experience, I know Jayco. I don't think they're really build any better than Keystone and I see no "quality" differences between the Carbon and the Raptor. I see different trim levels, but the quality is the same. However, Jayco responds to the consumer differently.

Looking at BBB complaints, Keystone had 4x as many complaints as Jayco. This doesn't necessarily mean anything if Keystone sells 4x as many RVs - it could very well mean that Keystone is actually better... But as I read those complaints and the response is "we will respond to the consumer directly" - that's NOT resolution... And that sort of thing isn't the right way to run a business, at least not in my opinion.

[Steve S]

When I was looking for this last trailer I did exactly like I did with the 2 before. I never looked at reviews and the drama of pissy people running down companies I went with my gut feeling of the fit and finish of the unit .
I made sure everything worked fine, made sure I was dealing with a reputable company and went from there
If and when I decide to buy another trailer I'll be looking at a Keystone but I'll be looking at others too.
I'm the first to admit that Keystone makes a great product compared to others that I've owned and they really do put some thought into their floor plans.
I think for the most part people have to realize that they're buying a trailer and not a house that's built very solid.
Keeping a trailer as light as possible will bring certain problems that we all have to get used to and live with.

[cb1000rider]

Steve, certainly there will be consumers that are never satisfied. And complaints must be scaled to the volume of units sold.

However, why not pay attention to the company response to those complaints? And the internet has a few fairly well documented problems.. Choosing to ignore those and go with your gut - you guts are more reliable than mine....

[Steve S]

Yes but what did we do before the interweb? We went with word of mouth and our gut feelings and how the dealer treated us. ......oh gawd now I'm feeling old